


quietus

by lethargicProfessor



Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Angst, Five Years Later, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-29
Updated: 2016-03-29
Packaged: 2018-05-29 20:12:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 591
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6391639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lethargicProfessor/pseuds/lethargicProfessor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He is 18 years old, and there is blood on his hands.</p>
            </blockquote>





	quietus

He is 18 years old, and there is blood on his hands.

He assumes that the would-be assassin thought he would be an easy target, alone at night, trailed after by two children. At least, that is what his guardians tell him, all soft words and comforting touches. As if he isn’t a cold-blooded killer.

(Reborn reminds him that only cowards would attack a couple of kids and an unarmed man, and so the man’s death was inconsequential.)

Tsuna isn’t so sure.

He is 18, and he’s scrubbing the blood off his hands despite the fact that the blood has long washed off. He scrubs until his hands are raw, hissing at the sting. The sting is good. It means he’s alive.

Not like the man who attacked them.

He calls Hibari for disposal, shielding Lambo and I-Pin from the worst of it. The carnage, if it could be called that. The charred body of the foolish man who tried to kill the Vongola’s Decimo.

He distracts the nine-year olds as best as he can manage, mind deceptively calm despite the blood on his hands. He wipes it off on his shirt, hoping they don’t notice. They don’t really mind; they’re older now, and they understand the situation.

I-Pin hugs his neck, whispering a small thank you. Not as siblings, he realizes after the fact, but from one killer to another.

(He had forgotten about her past, which was absurd because it was such a big part of her. Even with the blood on her hands, I-Pin was innocent. She was _good_.)

Lambo struggles to look away from the body, a horrified fascination clear on his face. Tsuna pulls him away from the body, and flinches when the young boy fails to meet his gaze.

(He hopes it doesn’t change anything between them. He doesn’t know what he would do if his youngest guardian, if his little brother suddenly started treating him differently. Like a killer.)

He manages to stay composed, herding the children home, leaving curt orders with Gokudera for the Storm to carry out. He’ll have to thank them all later, for dealing with his messes.

His body is on autopilot, cleaning himself off before sending the kids to bed. They’ve seen worse in the mafia, but he hopes the event hasn’t affected them.

He waits until the house falls silent, and makes his way to the bathroom, turning the water in the sink as hot as he can manage, scrubbing away until his hands are raw from the scalding water.

He’s just a kid, still a kid, sitting in the dark, hands sore, clothes stiff with blood and sweat.

(But not his blood.)

The revulsion rises in his throat all at once, and he scrambles to rip his shirt off, to get the man’s blood off him.

He never wanted this life. He told Reborn, and all of the others, that he never wanted to be in the mafia. He never wanted to be a killer.

A small voice reminds him that he has killed before, that Byakuran did not merely cease to exist in the future with no reason. A bigger part of him pushes it down, because Byakuran destroyed the world, and so it was a necessary death.

The tiny voice is almost mocking. _Who made you judge, jury and executioner?_

He doesn’t know how to respond to the voice in his head.

He isn’t sure he has an answer.

Tsunayoshi Sawada is 18 years old, and not for the first time, he’s killed a man.


End file.
